Charybdis
by CoMo290
Summary: Shepard and crew must investigate a mysterious derelict Cerberus science vessel, and they find horror when they arrive. Trying my hand at a more at sci-fi/horror oriented story so don't come expecting my typical romance. Not that there will be a complete lack. But expect violence and language in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Shepard's footsteps rang out in all directions through a seemingly endless corridor. He was dreaming again, he could tell. Lately he'd been having strange lucid dreams. Each was different than the last, yet they all seemed to have a darkness lurking within them, waiting to be discovered. This time he was on a ship, what seemed like standard alliance interior, probably a frigate from the size of the passageway he was currently in. Something told him it was a Cerberus ship. There were no obvious modifications to say so, but there was a coldness to it he had only felt in Cerberus installations.

When he reached the end of the hallway he found himself in what he thought to be the med bay. The room was lit up bright white from lights in every direction, but there was no equipment or furniture of any kind. There was one object directly in the center of the room and immediately Shepard identified it as a Mass Relay similar to the one on the Citadel Presidium. It stood upright about six meters tall and as far as he could tell it was inactive. He approached it less carefully than if he didn't know he was dreaming. Once he placed a hand on it however the rings spun to life and a red glow emitted from their core. As the rings sped on a terrible and angry shriek bellowed from them. He wanted to believe it was the sound of some Rachni or even a Thresher, but he knew it was human. As the noise carried on it sharpened into a more synthetic ringing tone. Suddenly the room faded away to darkness altogether.

Shepard was awake and in his room now, on his own ship. The tone was coming from his computer across the room, it was only set to alert on special encrypted channels. He left the bed while trying his best not to wake Tali who was sleeping with her head rested against him. She groaned and stirred as he moved, but she still seemed to be sleeping. His computer lit up as he approached and sat at the desk. The name "Shadow Broker" instantly caught his eye as it did. There was a short message.

"Shepard, please call me as soon as you get this." –_L_

Shepard yawned. "Never time for coffee." He muttered to himself as him manipulated the aero gel display with one hand and poured himself three fingers of whiskey with the other. He took a long sip as the vidcomm screen opened, and Liara's face appeared in front of him.

"It's good to see you Shepard." Her eyes fell to the glass in his hands. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Just the latest in a long line of nightmares, what's going on Liara?"

"I see, I would ask more but I'm afraid I have a time sensitive issue involving Cerberus I thought you might be interested in."

"Another one of the Illusive Man's project going haywire?"

"It seems that way. Have you heard anyone on the Normandy mention a science vessel named Charybdis?"

"I can't say I have specifically, but the way I understand it Cerberus keeps information about each project separate from one another."

"That's unfortunate as I have relatively little information on the ship or what project it was working on myself."

"So what do we know?"

"Only what we've been able to piece together from a few messages we intercepted. Apparently the Charybdis went missing two weeks ago outside the Perseus veil."

"Cerberus ships don't just go missing."

"No, and their tracking software would take someone with real intent to disable, but its disappearance isn't the strangest part. Two days ago the Charybdis reappeared in the exact coordinates it had been two weeks ago when it was reported missing. All systems are perfectly functional, but there are no signs of life. According to one of the messages the security footage shows a completely empty vessel."

"And now the Illusive Man is scrambling to find out what happened."

"Yes, he's made it his top priority. We've been tracking all Cerberus communications we can find on the matter. Cerberus has already sent a recovery team to investigate the Charybdis, and they've already stopped reporting."

"Any guesses as to what's going on?"

"None. The new communications we've retrieved have made no mention of what the actual project they were working on was, Cerberus is very careful and will likely be sending additional reinforcements."

"Well if it's got the Illusive Man sweating it must be important."

"Which is why I knew none of my other agents could handle it."

"Oh I'm one of your agents now?" Shepard laughed. "Here I thought the Shadow Broker worked for me."

"I'd like to think of it as a mutually beneficial relationship."

"Well then I guess I'll assemble the team."

"Be careful Shepard. I wish I had more information for you."

"I seem to be in the business of unknown odds. I'm sure I'll be fine. Thanks for the information Liara."

Liara smiled. "Goodbye John, take care."

With that the communication screen disappeared. Shepard looked through the display case where the screen had been and saw Tali laying down now awake. She smiled when their eyes met.

"New mission?" She asked rhetorically.

The commander stood from his desk and moved back to the bed to his smiling Quarian. He collapsed onto her, eliciting a soft grunt. Instantly her hands were moving gently around his scalp and shoulders.

"Some kind of Cerberus science mystery." He said.

"And we're the only ones for the job, per the norm."

"It's not really a job if you love what you do."

"Hmmm…"

"What is it?"

Tali's fingers were now drawing circles on the commander's forearm. "Oh the way you put that, "love" and "do". I guess it got me thinking."

Shepard pressed his body against Tali's and brought his face even with hers. "I guess we could make them wait ten minutes." He pulled her lips into his own for a moment as they kissed.

Tali stared deep into the commander's eyes as their mouths parted. "Make it fifteen."


	2. Chapter 2

Note from the author: Sorry this has gone so long without updates. I got busy on a bunch of other stuff I was doing, not the least of which being my blog .com and some other fan fics which you can check out. But I had an epiphany on this one the other day and now I have a pretty good idea of where it's going and how I'm going to get it there. Should be good!

Shepard always made a point of being the first one to the briefing room before a meeting, even if that meant occasionally delaying it. He knew the mission could be important, but so was his time. However when the door opened he found Garrus was already there, standing in the corner. His mandibles twitched into a grin.

"Hey Shepard, thought you'd never make it."

"You're early aren't you?"

"Yeah well, sound tends to carry down into the battery you know. Tali's certainly added some colorful words to her vocabulary by the way."

Shepard laughed and shook his head. "Well don't go telling her that, I don't want her to start getting reserved on me."

"No that would be a tragedy. So what's on the agenda today? Tell me it's a delivery, I'd love a simple job."

"Heh I thought you could hear anything down there in battery?"

"Only when I really concentrate. Thought I heard something about a Cerberus ship."

"Well then you officially know as much as I do."

"Standard run n' gun then?"

"Cerberus hasn't heard from them for a while, so only something terrible could have happened."

"Run n' gun it is."

The door opened and in walked Kasumi and Tali.

"Speak of the devil." Kasumi said, aiming herself at Shepard.

"Kasumi!" Tali shouted as she threw an elbow into the thief's ribs.

"Ladies, do I even want to pry?" Garrus asked.

"Tali here was just telling me about this wonderful thing the commander likes to do with his tongue to wake her up in the mornings."

Garrus cracked a smile. "Kasumi I think you and I have some interesting stories we could collaborate on."

"What? Why?" Tali asked, again accusing of Shepard. "John what did you tell him?"

Just then Jacob and Miranda walked in, both sporting confused glances.

"Err… I mean, Commander."

"Relax Tali." Miranda said. "No reason for formalities really, were little more than pirates as we stand now."

"Just what I like to hear." Jack said, now entering the briefing room with Grunt and Thane on her heels. "Thanks for holding the door bitch." She said with venom to Miranda. "We were right behind you."

"I think automatic doors hardly require that kind of courtesy." Miranda replied.

"Yeah you know I mean."

"Survive a suicide mission and you still can't bring two girls together." Garrus said from across. "What's it going to take Jack? Are we going to have to clear out the cargo bay and let you two go at it?"

"Sounds good to me."

Grunt roared up with excitement. "Yeah, then I take the winner. It's getting boring down there."

"Relax everyone." Shepard's voice commanded and suddenly he had all of their attention. "Liara sent a job our way and chances are we could see some action. There's not a whole lot of information but I'll tell you as much as I know. Two weeks a Cerberus science vessel named Charybdis went missing near the Perseus Veil."

"Is it the Geth?" Jacob asked.

"It's possible." Shepard replied. "And we'll be finding out for certain because the ship reappeared two days ago at the exact same coordinates. No survivors, but no structural damage, or damage to any of its systems."

"Where did it go?" Miranda inquired next. "Cerberus ships are very well equipped-"

"With tracking software." Shepard cut her off. "According to the information Liara gave us, it went nowhere. It vanished for roughly twelve days, and then reappeared completely abandoned. It's all the information we have, I was actually hoping one of you two might know something about the ship."

"Can't say I've heard a thing." Jacob said.

"Me neither." Miranda added. "Cerberus cells are kept very tightly from each other."

"What about you EDI?"

The blue orb representing EDI to the crew sprang up from the edge of the table. "Although I have been cut off from the majority of Cerberus databases, there are some notes of the ship Charybdis in the Normandy's own construction logs, specifically that funds and supplies were occasionally transferred from the Normandy SR-2 reconstruction program, to that of the Charybdis program." EDI's presence immediately vanished from the table.

"So whatever it was, it was expensive." Jacob said.

"I'd say that's an understatement." Miranda added. "The Normandy's reconstruction cost nearly as much as rebuilding Shepard himself. If the Illusive Man needed to siphon some of those funds for another project, it must have been tremendously important."

"Just another surprise we'll find when we get there." Shepard said. "We're going into this dark, but we'll be prepared for anything. If it isn't the Geth, Cerberus will probably be sending another team of reinforcements who won't be too happy to see us."

"If we're lucky we get both." Grunt said with a hearty laugh.

"There's a good chance Cerberus won't send reinforcements." Miranda interjected. "If they've already tried once and the project is particularly volatile, the Illusive Man doesn't leave loose ends, he'll send a ship to destroy it. Assuming it doesn't already have explosives on board set to detonate in the event of catastrophe."

"Is anyone else already having fun?" Garrus cracked.

"Hopefully we'll be able to figure out everything we need to know once we get there." Shepard said. "We're already on course and should be there in five hours, that means do what you need to do and be ready to go in four. We might not know what to expect, but that doesn't mean we won't be prepared. Dismissed."

Shepard concluded the brief and immediately the crew began to chatter amongst themselves, excited by the prospects of the unknown. Tali hung back and waited for the commander.

"Do what you need to do huh?" She said.

Shepard smiled. "I realize we have a pre-mission ritual to keep up on now." He said as he extended his arms around her waist. "But I could use some breakfast, maybe some coffee, you've still got me worn out from last time."

"I'm just trying to keep you in top shape."

"Frequent exercise requires a healthy diet."

"Well then go eat up. I think I left some tubes of dextro paste in your cabin." Tali said as she started to leave the room.

"Leaving your things in my room now? Are you trying to make things serious?" Shepard said with a smirk.

Tali turned back as if she were going to say something but instead shook her head and continued walking to the elevator. Since the meeting had just ended it was still in use by the other crew members, slowly making its way down to engineering just to need to climb immediately back up. It was times like these she would normally strike up a conversation with yeoman Chambers, but at the time she wasn't at her post. After several long silent moments the elevator doors opened and Tali stepped inside. She reached forward to select the Captain's Cabin as her destination, but she felt something solid between her and buttons.

It was Kasumi, who was now de-cloaking directly in front of her.

"Hey Tali." She said. "Going up?"

"That's right Kasumi, what were you doing in here?"

"Waiting for you of course." She replied as the elevator doors closed. "Pretty spooky about this ghost ship right?"

"Ghost ship?" Tali replied with confusion in her tone.

"What Quarians don't have ghost ships? I would think of all people the Quarians would have stories about haunted derelict ships."

"When Quarians find a derelict ship we salvage it, the last thing we would do is make up a story to keep people away."

"I guess that makes sense. You have to admit it's sort of creepy though right? Ship vanishes for two weeks and then reappears with nobody home."

"It definitely doesn't sound like the Geth." The elevator doors opened and the two women now stood outside the captain's cabin. "Did you want to come in?"

"No thanks, I'll leave you two to your ritual." With an electric crackle Kasumi's cloak resumed its function. "I'll make sure Shep doesn't eat any garlic or onions."


	3. Chapter 3

As Tali sat half dressed at the edge of Commander Shepard's bed, she thought the same thing she always thought when she took her newest regimen of immunity boosters. Why was the orange pill she only had to take once a day smaller than the blue one she had to take twice? She already found it strange enough ingesting a pill for her health rather than the series of subcutaneous microinjections which were typical for Quarians in their suited life. But she could also see how other species might not find the idea of microinjections particularly appealing, let alone a series of them several times a day.

They weren't intended specifically for Quarians anyway, a human pharmaceutical company had recently brought a series of dextro/levo "relationship boosters" to the market that even tried to capitalize on the "his and hers" style of advertising, but Tali found it to be the least romantic aspect of their relationship. But it certainly beat out the alternative. At least she could hide behind her mask if her face broke out in hives, the commander was out in the open. Defiant at first, he only took the prescription from Dr. Chakwas after an incident where his tongue ballooned and small, red, crescent shaped, particularly itchy splotches appeared all over his body. He swore he had no idea where they came from, Tali and the Doctor however had some idea.

After Tali downed the pills and assembled the rest of her suit up to her next she turned her attention to Shepard, who was sitting in front of his terminal waiting for any possible updates from Liara. There hadn't been any since she first contacted him. All they had was the name of a ship. They might as well be flying back into the Omega 4 relay. But he knew it could be important, something of use to the Citadel or the Council, or perhaps just something Cerberus started that needed to be stopped. Whatever the case they'd be there soon enough and the Commander was just a quick stop at the armory way from being mission ready.

Tali approached Shepard in his chair dangling her helmet from her fingertips. She stared down at him standing only a few inches away. The Commander looked up with a quizzical gaze.

"What?"

Tali remained silent but widened her eyes and nodded her head once as if trying to imply something. Shepard checked his surroundings and then returned eye contact. He shrugged. Tali shifted her weight and looked down at her helmet, then back to the Commander, this time she perked her lips at him twice. This time he laughed.

"Ahh I think I get it now."

He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to his lap.

"You were supposed to stand up." Tali said with an often well feigned anger.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"But you can still kiss me."

"Like you could stop that from happening."

"Why would I want to stop that from happening?"

"I don't know, this is your hypothetical we're in isn't it?"

"You talk t-"

Shepard interrupted her with a long kiss.

"You infuriate me in the best way sometimes." Tali said quietly when their lips parted. She started to bring her helmet to her head but Shepard stopped her, making sure to leave her with one last parting kiss.

"Let's go clean up another Cerberus mess." He said.

Together they stood from the chair and left the Commander's room, but not before Tali had reassembled her helmet and face plate. Her first breath of completely filtered sterilized air always made her long for the Commander's sweet musk that filled her lungs whenever she was breathing unaided by machinery in his quarters. But she'd have it back soon enough.

They stepped out of his room and waited for the lift to arrive and take them to the CIC. Once they arrived on the second level of the Normandy, Shepard started to move to the bridge.

"I'll meet you in the briefing room." He said. "I'm just going to go check in with Joker."

Tali nodded and headed off to the comm. room. The CIC was busy with crewman at their workstations as Shepard assumed they must be approaching the Cerberus vessel. Joker as always was at the helm, making sure they arrived timely at their destination. The helmsman yawned and stretched, craning his neck and spotting Shepard as he did.

"Hey Commander, we're just about to those coordinates Liara sent us." He said.

"Good, I want to get this over with."

"Whatever this is, right? You know I thought the Shadow Broker was supposed to know everything."

"Well if anyone could keep a secret from the Shadow Broker it would be Cerberus."

Shepard's attention was then caught by set of blinking lights out through the distance of the nebula.

"That our ship?"

"Must be." Joker replied.

As they closed the distance between the Normandy and Charybdis, Shepard was somewhat shocked to see that despite being claimed as a science vessel, the Charybdis was actually a repurposed Alliance cruiser, almost twice the size of the Normandy SR-2, and from what he could tell the guns still appeared to be operational.

"Not exactly what comes to mind when you hear the phrase "science vessel" eh commander?"

"I definitely wasn't expecting anything with firepower." Shepard replied. "There's got to be more to this than scientific discovery."

"I'll say." The helmsman replied with a tone of understatement.

"I'm going to go meet the team, I'll have you patched in."

"Right, you know how much I love mission talk."

Shepard rolled his eyes and shook his head as he made his way back down the bridge to the briefing room. Seeing the Charybdis troubled him and only opened up more questions. Hopefully EDI would be able to discover something in the short time it took him to move from one end of the deck to the other. When he approached the comm. room he could hear the sound of muffled voices. Obviously he wasn't the only one feeling the excitement brought on by their arrival. But the room went silent as soon as he entered.

"Alright everyone." He started. "We're just about to pull alongside the Charybdis. EDI, what can you tell us so far?"

The orb representing the ships AI lit up in response to the commander's voice.

"My cyber warfare suites have already began accessing systems aboard the Charybdis. While I have gained primary access into most systems, the mission reports and all information associated with them appear to be located on a separate database within the ship's central laboratory, and I am unable to access them. Additionally, the information regarding the Charybdis flight path, and location for the last two weeks is also held separate on a secure system on the bridge."

"That's strange. Bring up a schematic highlighting the central lab."

EDI's own holograph disappeared and was replaced with a three dimensional image of the Cerberus cruiser outside.

"A cruiser?" Garrus said incredulously. "Is any of that firepower active?"

"Yes." Came EDI's flat reply. "All weapon systems are fully functional."

"What the hell does a science team need with guns like that?" Jack said.

"That's what we're going to figure out." Shepard replied, trying to bring their attention back to the laboratory.

"I want this done fast, so we'll split into two teams. I'll take Tali and Thane with me to the central lab to download the mission reports. Garrus, I want you to take Jack, Grunt, head to the bridge, get everything you can on where this thing was going and what their plan was when they got there."

"Got it." Garrus replied confidently.

"What about me and Miranda commander?" Jacob asked.

"Jacob I want you and Kasumi to take point wherever we board and be ready to provide back up if either squad needs it, or be ready for a landing party if Cerberus reinforcements make it our way. And finally Miranda I want you to stay here because there's no reason to believe that if Cerberus shows up they'll respond to us with hostility, if you're here to talk to them maybe you can parley a deal."

"Or at least keep them from blowing us up right away." Garrus added.

"Okay commander." Miranda said. "But I can't promise anything will work out that easily, if the Illusive Man suspects you're here to give that information to the Alliance, they may not even bother responding to a hail."

"In that case, Joker be ready to blow them to hell."

"Aye aye commander." Joker's voice chimed in from the speakers.

"What about survivors?" This time the question was from Thane, his distinct Drell voice carrying across the room with ease even at the relatively low volume with which he generally spoke.

EDI's holograph appeared again in preparation for a reply.

"There are no signs of life aboard the vessel."

"And what of the bodies?" The Drell continued.

"None are visible within range of any security cameras."

"How many were originally aboard?"

"Unknown. That information is likely stored in the lab or on the bridge."

"But alliance cruisers can have a full crew of up to a hundred." Jacob said. "Although it's usually closer to sixty or seventy."

"Anything could have happened to them out here." Garrus said. "Slavers, geth, mercs, or worse."

"But there's no damage to the ship, right EDI?" Jacob asked aloud. "Or signs of a struggle?"

"That is correct Mr. Taylor. Charybdis has no outer hull damage and there appears to be no signs of battle inside either. All escape pods are in their bays, all shuttles are in their hangars, and no distress calls have been made."

"Are we sure Cerberus didn't just send an empty ship out here to fuck with us?" Jack said.

"This definitely has the bearings of a trap commander." Garrus added.

"That would be fairly elaborate." Miranda said. "Even for the man himself."

"It doesn't matter." Shepard commanded. "We're here now, if it's a trap we'll deal with it once we're inside. Everyone understand their orders?"

Everyone in the room either nodded or at the very least didn't object.

"Good, let's move out."


	4. Chapter 4

Please read this with the understanding that I know very little about the characteristics of Alliance vessels and particle physics.  
_

Shepard and his team were ready and waiting when the loud metallic crash rang out through the Normandy's upper decks letting them know they had successfully locked with the Charybdis docking tube. It was accompanied by a brief shutter, rocking everyone slightly, then a quiet stillness before the Normandy's primary entryway opened with a quiet hiss. They walked two by two across the long narrow walkway save for grunt whose size required him to walk alone at the end of team. Clearly Cerberus hadn't intended Krogan to be boarding their ships.

"Fucking sterile Cerberus ships." Jack bemoaned. "Is all this clean white shit supposed to fool anyone?"

Garrus chuckled. "If my entire idea of Cerberus was based on their hygiene I'd probably sign up."

"I guess not everyone is lucky enough to have our insight." Shepard added.

"Yeah thank God for Cerberus." Jack said with venom rich in her voice. "I'm the luckiest bitch there is."

They reached the entrance of the Charybdis and Shepard made a few silent hand gestures to the group. Garrus took point across from Tali while Shepard manipulated the access panel, giving them access within less than a minute. The doors slid apart and immediately Tali and Garrus raised their weapons, each turning to one side as they entered, scanning the immediate vicinity for any hostiles. Both were treated to a similar view. A long empty white corridor that likely ran then length of the ship.

"Clear." Tali said.

"Clear." Garrus added on his side.

Both lowered their weapons, but kept them at hand until the order came from Shepard to return them to the magnetic locks on their backs. The commander stepped back to the front of his team and pulled up the Charybdis schematic on his omni-tool. Three glowing dots, red, blue, and yellow appeared in their location of lower decks. The red and blue dots broke off in opposite directions, moving to the lab and bridge respectively with similarly colored trails following behind them.

"I take it that makes us yellow." Kasumi said. "You know I look better in red Shep."

"I'm not sure he does." Tali said with a mock possessive tone.

"Nothing personal Kasumi." Shepard said. "You had to know I was going to take red for myself."

"And it's pretty obvious I'd be the blue guy." Garrus added.

"At least he didn't make us a black dot." Jacob joked, provoking a small laugh from Shepard, Jack, and Kasumi, but the humor was lost on their alien companions.

"Alright everyone, let's go clear these databases and get out of here, hopefully without incident." Shepard said. "Bravo team, report when you get to the bridge."

"Yes commander." Garrus replied as he Grunt, and Jack left down the hall for the ship's upper decks.

"Charlie," The commander said back to Jacob and Kasumi. "Besides the obvious of Cerberus showing up, call in anything you see or hear. I don't care how small it is, one of us will check it out. But I need both of you to stay here unless told otherwise."

Kasumi's cloaking device warmed up and fired with a soft electric crackle as she disappeared. "It's okay if it only looks like there's one of us here right?"

"Yeah Kasumi that's fine, just don't leave Jacob hanging."

"I'm sure the man is already quite well hung." The thief replied.

Shepard sighed. "Sure, we'll be going now. We'll radio in when we hit the lab."

"Okey dokey."

"Jacob just keep an eye on… well you get the idea."

"You got it commander, I know how she gets around shiny objects."

"Hey not just shiny objects." Kasumi retorted. "Expensive ones too."

"As if having one Joker isn't bad enough." Shepard mumbled as he and his team broke off from the others, heading down the long white hall.

"How far to the main lab?" Thane inquired.

"There should be a lift at the end of the hall." Shepard explained. "We'll take that up a few decks and then it looks like there are several smaller research stations we'll have to wade through before we get there."

"I wonder if will run into any bodies." The drell added.

"They have to be around here somewhere." Tali said.

"Unless Cerberus already picked them up."

"If there was an extraction," Shepard started, "Garrus should find it in the logs on the bridge."

"And then we get to find out why they abandoned a perfectly functional vessel."

"I get the feeling it wasn't voluntary."

Soon they were at the elevator that would take them to the cluster of labs. Tali and Thane raised their weapons and pointed them to the door while Shepard summoned the lift however it was already on the same deck and the doors opened instantly to a spacious, and noticeably empty, elevator similar to the one on the Normandy. They stepped inside, lowering their weapons.

"Deck four." The commander said to Thane who, standing closest to the controls, selected their destination.

The Cerberus modified Alliance Cruiser had nearly twice the number of levels to their own ship at a total of nine decks. Shepard had to assume most of that extra space was for the sort of "scientific research" Cerberus was prone to, as well as some lavish living quarters. The elevator stopped and again they raised their weapons to greet any potential threats, and again they were received by an empty hall.

Here there were large windows lining the walls that allowed them to look into the various laboratories. The team pressed on down the hall. Following the map on Shepard's omni-tool they came to intersection where they turned and found more groups of labs. Each room they passed was full of various equipment and instruments for God only knows what purpose, but they saw now bodies or evidence of inhabitants. Finally they came to a stretch of hall that lacked the windows of the previous labs and eventually a door much larger than the others.

"Looks like this is it." Shepard said.

Tali approached the door, ready to hack the door console. She stopped after firing up her own omni-tool.

"Oh, it doesn't look like it's locked."

Shepard raised his shotgun, the M-22 Eviscerator he considered a parting gift from Cerberus, and Thane did similarly with his own Kassa Locust sub-machine gun.

"Open it." The commander said.

Tali pressed the door controls and then stepped aside as Shepard and Thane rushed in with their weapons drawn. The facility was clear of any people, living or dead. Still the commander stood and stared in awe at what they found. It was the device, the relay-like object from his dream the night before. He was surprised but at the same time he felt like that was what he had been expecting to see this whole time.

"Keelah, what is that?" Tali said as she pulled up the rear.

"It looks like a relay." Thane replied. "But something's off about it."

Although the difference in scale was the most obvious difference between this apparent relay standing like a monolith before them and the standard relays throughout the galaxy, it was also composed of a much darker material, which could have simply been an aesthetic choice on Cerberus' part. But there was also some sort of dark mass suspended in the center of the rings, which at present were motionless. It was grounded vertically into a wide but comparatively shallow base that the commander assumed was used to house the components that were powering the machine or those that lead to the power source. Attached to this base were several terminals, which Shepard hoped would give them access to whatever logs they could find to explain this monstrosity.

"Bravo team, we're at the lab." He said into the wireless radio. "What's your position?"

"The door to the bridge is in sight." Garrus replied. "Haven't seen any Cerberus though."

"Neither have we. Let us know what you find up there."

"Will do."

"Me and Jacob are having fun too." Kasumi added.

Shepard ignored the last comment. "Tali, start going through this thing, see what you can find."

The quarian nodded and stepped to the center console which she manipulated with one hand while loading up her decryption programs on her omni-tool.

"Looks like Cerberus have given their firewalls some upgrades." She said.

"Anything you can't handle?" Shepard asked.

Tali turned her head toward him and even though he couldn't see her expression Shepard knew she was glaring at him.

"Please." She replied, drawn out and confident. "I'll just need a couple minutes."

"Commander I think we found the bridge logs." Garrus' voice chimed in over the radio. "Working on them now."

"He might need a little more time though." Tali added.

While waiting for results Shepard stepped closer to the relay and reached out to touch it for some instinctual purpose that wasn't entirely clear to him. Even through the lightly padded armor of his gloves the metallic surface felt cold, almost painfully so. He retracted his arm and moved his attention back to Tali who was working furiously at the terminal.

"I think… I've almost… there!" She exclaimed. "Now let's see what they were working on."

"Did you guys do something down there?" Garrus asked through the radio. "Suddenly this terminal here decided to lay down and open up for me."

"Tali just broke into the main computer down here, they must have had some sort of link." Shepard said.

"Works for me. I've got the crew manifest here, Commander."

"How many were on board?"

"Seventy five. Mostly scientists, some military officers, and a handful of marines. Looks like just enough for a rotating security detail."

"Where were they headed?"

"Some kind of Cerberus station, "Tartarus", in the Ismar Frontier."

"Let's get those coordinates. Now where does it say they have been for the last two weeks?"

"Hmm… Looks like, right here." Garrus said with disbelief present in his voice.

"That can't be right."

"But that is what it says. They showed up here fifteen days ago, and never left. There are no reports of any shuttles or emergency communication coming or going. Everyone just stopped reporting."

"Then why couldn't Cerberus find them?"

"I'm not sure, there are a lot of references in here to some kind of "project" in the labs they were testing. Maybe it's some kind stealth tech and the bastards just forgot where they parked it."

"Based on what we're seeing here, that's not likely the case, it's some kind of small mass relay like the conduit on the citadel."

"No, not like the conduit." Tali interrupted.

"What did you find?" Shepard asked.

"They've been experimenting with dark energy and anti-matter."

A cold wave rushed through Shepard's body, experiments on either of those things by Cerberus could not be conducive to galactic stability. Research into anti-matter had long since been outlawed by the citadel council. When hydrogen and anti-hydrogen molecules were brought together, it caused complete atomic annihilation. The energy released from just these tiny specs colliding was immense and could generate outstanding sources of power, but the threat of weaponized form was all too great. A bomb with just a few anti-matter particles could lay waste to entire continents, and by this time element zero had been discovered as a much safer long lasting energy source, despite its own risks by way of radiation.

"Where is this relay networked to? Do they have more out there?"

"That's just it Commander." Tali replied. "There's no receiving relay."

"Then how were they expecting to make a jump?"

"It's not a mass relay." Tali explained. "Not really. They were using dark energy and anti-matter to create a singularity. One large and stable enough that they could travel through it."

"A wormhole…" The words fell out of Shepard's mouth.

"Here." Tali said. "There are some video logs."

A large screen opened above the computer console and a man's face appeared. He didn't look to be much older than Shepard. His short black hair was combed neatly off to the side and he wore a Cerberus science officer's uniform.

"This is Doctor Matteas Wright." He said. "Lead researcher on the Charybdis Project. Several years ago I was studying the Mass Relays, trying to understand how it was the Protheans were capable of building a device that could momentarily reduce an object's mass to that point that it allowed for faster than light travel all in just an instant. When I began to theorize anti-matter could be key in creating new forms of these relays that we could better understand, I was quickly shut down by the council and all of my research was confiscated. But now..."

He smiled and stepped back from the camera, allowing them to see the busy work environment of several dozen researchers behind him. "Now, with thanks to the Illusive Man, we're only minutes away from realizing my life's work."

He stepped in front of the camera again and his expression became more serious. "We were able to successful synthesize a few molecules of an "anti-element zero", though we lost a particle super collider and several hundred like minded scientists in the process, we can now use these particles in conjunction with my improved relay design to open a singularity and instantaneously travel to any point in the galaxy, indeed any point in the universe, without the need for another relay to restore our mass."

He became more frantic now and started to pace around the computer. "With this, Cerberus will finally have its edge over those foolish council races who were too terrified by my ideas. There are entire galaxies now that Cerberus will be first to inhabit. First to conquer. In just a few moments, the future will again burn bright for humanity." The message ended and the screen vanished.

Shepard and his team were now standing silently. Mulling over everything they had just seen and heard.

"That still doesn't explain what happened to-" Thane began to speak but was cut off by a loud electric howling noise coming from the machine before them.

"What's happening?" Shepard asked.

"I don't know…" Tali said as she again turned to the console, trying to get a read on the situation. "Keelah John, it's powering up."

The noise grew louder and suddenly the three large rings unlocked themselves and began to slowly rotate around each other and the anti-matter capsule in its center.

"Can you shut it off?" The commander asked with growing concern in his tone.

"I'm trying." Tali replied quickly.

Her fingers were flying across the keyboard, but the speed of the rings was also building. A dense and nebulous cloud of dark red energy was forming around the center of the device, arcs leaped from its surface to that of its surroundings. Shepard could feel himself being pulled at in no particular direction by some kind of imperceptible force, like a great weight was simultaneously being added to and then lifted from him.

The cloud of energy became denser and brighter as it burned and then there was a brief moment of complete silence as the singularity came into existence, not even allowing sound waves to escape. For a moment it was as if time itself had come to a momentary pause. But it wasn't long before the singularity grew unstable and collapsed, engulfing everything in darkness.

_  
Also, yes this story does borrow heavily from the main plot point of the movie Event Horizon, which if you have not seen, stop reading this and go find it somewhere. Some great Sam Neill. And I forgot how this website works a little bit so I took down the chapter to make a few edits which I don't think was necessary. My bad guys.


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